1OO1

Rhythm fundamentals with Meytal.

Fatback exercise

So I got compliments from my teacher today for the routine he gave me to exercise last time. That's the pattern I played.
Neo-Drummer - Fatback exercise by neo-drummer

Lessons learned

I had 3 drum lessons so far. Here you are some ideas which I learned.

• You are using the gravity to do the work on the drums. I.e. You do not hit the drums, but you guide the stick to fall well.
• Same with the pedals. You have your feet rested on the pedal, then when you want a kick, you push away your feet from the pedal, then let it fall back to make the sound.
• You are 'dancing' on the pedal rather than pushing it (hard).
• No big movements. You are close to the instrument, lean forward, and let the sticks flow on the drums. No need for theatrical movements. (See my former video for reference.)
• When you hit the snare you can imagine that you are dropping a rubber ball. It's a very similar feeling. (Indeed!) You give some initial speed, let it fall, let it bounce, then you catch it.
• Rim shots on the snare, but not on the toms. ;)
• Alternating hands during fills are good. If you finish on the crash cymbal, take care that you finish with the left hand. If you finish on the ride, take care that you finish with the right hand. Assuming crash cymbal is on the left, while the ride is on the right.

This is NOT an Addictive Drums promotion site

Buy you may want to check out their offer for February.

I'm going Pro

I had my first drum lesson today.

New Year's interface with 96kHz / 24-bit resolution

I got this new audio interface from Santa.

The things which I like in it:
- No external power is needed.
- XLR connectors with phantom power for the new year's experiments.
- Great driver which works with XP like a charm with simultaneous audio sources.
- Very low latency! Ableton reports 12.3 ms; drumming feels much more natural with my DD-65. Works with buffer size as low as 49 samples!
- Now I can use my Addictive Drums and WinAmp at the same time, thanks to the no-hassle driver!

Tascam US-144 MKII USB audio interface

Caution: Use the latest drivers & firmware; Stock driver & XP didn't play nice together!